Rotary internal combustion engine



Oct. 4, 1938.

R. E. J. GARRETSON ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 30, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 4, 1938. R. E. J. GARRETSON ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Sept. 50, 1955 x d 4 W a w M f M H H U m i F mAb/N 47 X 4 W. i f ./L a 0 Q Patented Oct. 4, 1938 PATENT OFFICE ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Richard E. J. Garretson, Gering, Nebn, assignor of one-half to Eugene S. Starrett, Hartvillc,

Wyo.

Application September 30, 1935, Serial No. 42,959

20laims.

The invention relates to rotary internal combustion engines and has for its object to provide a device of this character comprising a casing having a concentric rotor therein of smaller diameter 5 than the diameter of the casing chamber and provided with transverse packing strips or abutment carried by the casing and packing strips carried by the said rotor said last mentioned strips forming vanes against which the expanding gases act 10 for forcing the rotor to rotate.

A further object is to yieldably mount the packing strips and to bevel the casing carried packing strips in the direction ofrotation of the rotor whereby said strips may cam past each other dur- 15 ing the rotation of the rotor during the intake and exhaust operations.

A further object is to provide the outer periphery of the rotor with packing rings adjacent the ends of the rotor and outside of the transverse 20 vanes for sealing against transverse power loss. Also to provide packing rings in the sides of the rotor.

A further object is to provide an oil reservoir at the bottom of the casing and rotor for lubricating 25 the rotor as it is rotated.

A further object is to provide a main exhaust port and an auxiliary exhaust port, said auxiliary exhaust port opening immediately after the in- I take has closed for allowing escape of gases which I 30 may pass the transverse packing strip.

A further object is to provide packing strip springs having compound bends therein beneath the transverse packing strip and extending under the packing rings at the ends of the transverse 5 vanes for assisting in the operation thereof.

With the above and other objects in view the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter set forth, shown in the drawings, described and claimed, it being 40 understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the inventiommayje made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through the engine parts being shown in elevation.

Figure 215a view in elevation of the rotor.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the engine.

F. gure 4 is an enlarged vertical transverse sectional detail view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1 through one side of the rotor showing the packing strip therein.

Figure15 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view 55 through ,adjacent portions of the'rotor and casing showing\the vanes in the process of passing the abutments- Figure 6 is a perspective view of the slidable intake and exhaust valve. 60 Referring to the drawings, the numeral I designates the upper portion of the casing and 2 the lower portion of the engine casingpsaid portions being bolted together by means of bolts 3. The casing sections i and 2 are preferably provided with water chambers 4, through which water may be circulated in any suitable manner for cooling purposes. The motor may be supported on any kind of a support by securing the apertured flanges 5 to the support. Disposed within the casing I in spaced relation to the inner periphery 6 thereof is a rotor I. Rotor 'I is mounted on the transverse shaft 8, which may lead to any position for operating mechanisms. The rotor I is of smaller diameter than the interior diameter of the casing I, therefore it will be seen byreferring to Figure 1 that a combustion chamber 9 is provided between the vanes I carried by the outer periphery of the rotor, the casing, the peripheral rings i6 and I1, and abutments II carried by the inner periphery of the casing I. It will be noted that the abutments II are provided with bevelled edges I2, bevelled in the direction of rotation of the rotor which rotates in the direction of the arrow a, hence it will be seen that the rounded corners I3 of the packing strips or vanes I 0 will easily. ride over the abutments II. The abutments II move radially outwardly against the action of the springs I4 behind theabutments. Springs I5 are also provided beneath the vanes II), but they are sufliciently strong to overcome the iorce'of the springs I4 unless some of the abutments become stuck.

The springs It and I5 are preferably formed with compound bends therein as clearly shown in Figure 4, and it will be noted that the springs I5 perform the double function of forcing the vanes outwardly and expanding the peripheral ring I6 mounted in the periphery of the rotor I. Additional peripheral rings I? are provided in the rotor I, as well as side rings I8 in the sides thereof. The ends IQ of the springs I5 extend into the grooves 20, in which the rings l6 are mounted, and engage the inner periphery thereof, therefore it will' be seen that they extend through the transverse slot 2| in which the vanes III are mounted, and into the grooves 20.

The periphery of the rotor I is provided with a pocket 22, into which supercharged gas is received from an intake port 23 when the intake valve 24 is opened. The engine is provided with a main exhaust port 25 and an auxiliary exhaust port 26 closed by a valve 211. The purpose of the auxiliary exhaust port 26 is important. When the gas mixture is fired there may occur a back-fire past the abutments II. The auxiliary port being open will let this back-fire out through the auxiliary port. Also when the rotor is rapidly rotating it would be dangerous for the inlet valve 24 to open with fire lingering adjacent the same to set oi the gases assembled in'the inlet 23. Without the use 22, inits rotation, reaches the intake port 23, the

supercharged gas enters the combustion pocket and space between the rotor and casing in front of the combustion pocket 22 and between the' vanes l and abutments ll. When the combustion pocket passes the intake port 23, the valve 24 is opened and the combustion pocket 22 receives its gas and passes the first abutment I l, the valve slides inwardly, closing the intake 23 and opening the exhaust valve 21 to the auxiliary exhaust port 26; the exhaust valve 21 remaining open so that any gases which may pass the vanes II] in the direction of rotation will be exhausted, and the fire will be directed through the auxiliary exhaust 26, therefore it will be seen that these gases will be kept from lingering around the intake port or seeping past rings ll into the oil reservoir I. The ignition takes place after. the pocket 22 has advanced in the direction of the arrow a. beyond the abutments l I and at which time spark plug 28 (Fig. 1) ignites the charge. The expanding gases will act against the wall of the pocket 22 and the abutments H and the vanes ID to rotate the rotor. At the time of firing the intake port 24 is closed to prevent newly formed gases from being taken into the machine. The engine is provided with a conventional form of spark plug 23, which may be controlled byany kind of an ignition system and the valves 24 and 21 are transversely slidably mounted in the casing I, and moved inwardly and outwardly by a rocker arm 29, one end 30 of which is disposed within a cam slot 32 of a rotatable cam 33 carried by the shaft 8 and the other end in an enlarged opening 21b in the valve 21, however it is to be understood that any kind of valve control mechanism may be used, and the mechanism as shown is for illustrative purposes only. The rocker arm 29 is rockably mounted on a supporting bracket 29a carried by the engine casing.

From the above it will be seen that a rotary gas engine is provided which is simple in construction, the parts reduced to a minimum, and one wherein a supercharged fuel is taken into the machine, carried to a combustion point at spark plug 28 and fired so that it will act against vanes l0 and a wall of the pocket 22 in the rotor for rotating the rotor, and that any burnt gases forced past the packing strips or vanes l0 will leave the machine through the exhaust ports.

The rotor I is preferably provided with a counterweight la for counterbalancing the same during rotation.

The inner periphery of the casing I is provided with bevelled abutments Ila similar to abutments l2 between the intake port 23 and the oil reservoir for preventing passage of gases to the exhaust port 25.

In operation when the pocket 22 reaches the intake port 23, valve 24 is opened by the cam rocked arm 29, see Figure 3. As the rotor continues in the direction of arrow a, valve 24 is closed, and after the vanes l0 pass the abutments II, the charge is fired by the spark plug 23. The

rotor 1 continues in the direction of the arrow a under the influence of the expanding gases in the pocket 22 and chamber 9 acting against the walls of the chamber, and vanes l0 and abutments ll until the pocket 22 reaches the exhaust port 25, and at which time the burnt gases are exhausted from the pocket 22 and chamber 9. As the rotor I continues its movement in the direction of the arrow a, vanes III will pass the abutment members Ila and the pocket 22 will be .in a position to receive the next charge of gas. This operation continues. It will be noted there is no compression as the charge, as previously stated, is forced into the pocket 22 under pressure, and the exhaust takes place incident to the expansion of the burnt gases through the exhaust port 25. A single rotor is shown for illustrative purposes, but devices of this character may have any number of rotors for distributing the power around the driven shaft. Valve 29 controlling auxiliary exhaust port 26 opens at the time of firing, thereby allowing any back firing gases to exhaust before the intake port 23 is again opened. I

The invention having been set forth what is claimed as new and useful is:

1. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising a. casing having a cylindrical chamber therein, a cylindrical rotor concentrically disposed within said chamber and of less diameter than the chamber, a ch ag'ge receiving pocket in the rotor, radially moun ed abutments carried by the wall of the chamber, radially mounted vanes carried by the rotor, said vanes being in advance of the charge receiving pocket in the rotor, said vanes and abutments being yieldably mounted whereby they will simultaneously yield in relation to each other as they engage during the rotation of the rotor, an intake port for admitting supercharged gas to the rotor pocket, an exhaust port for exhausting burnt gas, a spark-plug carried by the casing on the firing side of the intake port, an auxiliary exhaust port on the firing side of the intake port, valve mechanism controlling the intake and auxiliary ports, packing rings within the casing between the intake and exhaust ports, said abutments being carried by the casing between the sparkplug and intake port.

2. A rotary internal combustion engine comprising a casing having a cylindrical chamber therein, a cylindrical rotor concentrically disposed within said chamber and of less diameter than the chamber, a charge receiving pocket in the rotor, abutments carried by the wall of the chamber, vanes carried by the rotor, said vanes being in advance of the charge receiving pocket therein, said vanes and abutments being yieldably mounted whereby they will simultaneously yieldably engage and pass each other during the rotation of the rotor, means for admitting super-charged gas to the rotor pocket, means for exhausting burnt gas, said means for admitting super-charged gas comprising an intake port, said means for exhausting burnt gas comprising an exhaust port, and auxiliary exhaust port, said auxiliary exhaust port and intake port being adjacent said abutments and the auxiliary exhaust port between the intake port and the abutments and valves cooperating with the intake ports and the auxiliary exhaust port whereby super-charged gas may be supplied to the rotor pocket in its intake position and moved to the firing position and the auxiliary exhaust port opened after the rotor reaches its firing position.

RICHARD a. J. aman'rson. 

